My plant obsession

Six on Saturday 05-01-2019

Happy New Year! It has finally turned a bit chilly here, hovering around freezing for the last couple of days. Are we finally seeing signs of the (annually!) predicted severe winter? As I write this on Friday afternoon, it’s a beautiful day out, I’m hoping for more of the same at the weekend. Talking of weekends, it’s time for Six on Saturday – Six things, in the garden now-ish, on a Saturday. Could be anything – a flower, a job to do, a tool, a gadget, anything at all. Join in!

Here are my Six.

1 – Onion seeds sown. Remember this module tray from a week or two ago? I cut it in half and in a fit of impatience have sown this year’s onion seeds. Three kinds, Bedfordshire Champion, Red Baron and Red Brunswick. I’ve sown a few seeds in each one, I’ll either plant out as a group or perhaps thin out to one per module. The tray is sitting in the heated bench for now, I’ll move it on into the unheated parts of the greenhouse once they’ve germinated.

2 – Geranium ‘salome’. Among the batch of teeny perennials plants I bought last year were six of these, supplied as bareroots of a decent size. I have planted them up in 1L pots and the new growth is beginning to come through. ‘Salome’ is fairly low growing and liable to run or clamber through neighbouring plants, mauve-pink flowers with magenta/black tracery. Like many hardy geraniums, ‘Salome’ is happy in full sun or partial shade. Looking forward to it.

3 – UFO sighting. I was given a set of LED grow lights for Christmas. This is either a sad reflection of the state of things (rest of family), or an excellent gift (me), depends entirely on one’s perspective! At the moment I have this rigged up in the greenhouse, just to try them out. I have them on a timer from 07:00 to 22:00. This particular set does not cover a large area, but is enough to light one end of my heated bench. The spectrum of light provided is a mix of red and blue, supposedly supporting seeds/seedlings in one case, growing plants in the other. We’ll see. I might need another one or two.

4 – Linaria, toadflax. It’s slim pickings at this time of year, but toady here caught my eye. This is the end of one of several stems on this plant.

5 – Plant supports. A few weeks back I mentioned I had bought some coppiced stems with the intention of making some plant supports, along the lines of some that I’d seen at Waterperry in Oxfordshire. This is the result of my fiddling about. If I’ve done it right, this should support a large clump of helenium which last year got to about 6′ tall.

6 – Trachelospermum jasminoides. I bought this as a teeny little plant last winter. It has grown on quite nicely and is now in one of the planters down the side of the house. I need to start training it in to the wall. In time this should grow to cover a good chunk of wall. I am hoping it will make a good pairing with the rose ‘Claire Austin’ as they both have white flowers and a good fragrance.

Those are my Six, what are yours? Join in, do! Just publish your post then pop a link to it in the comments below, maybe mention my blog in yours, job’s a good’n. For more details and for other ways to take part, you can read the brief participant guide.

Have a super weekend, I hope you are able to get some gardening done, even if it is simply drooling over seed catalogues. Don’t forget to check in later on as more links get added during the day.

Lovely to have SoS back. My retinas are still adjusting to the glasshouse! 😉 I’m also really impressed with your sowing and your plant supports. Do you think the thicker end of willow branches would work? We have two massive willows and are always picking up detritus. I’d love some natural supports like you’re creating.
Now, I can either lie in bed on a very smoky summer’s day, reading SoS, or I can get out in the veggie patch and weed, take some pics and try and upload before midnight your time, and then go for a swim. Summer’s difficult…
Hopefully see you soon.
Hi and bye all!

Dear Propagator, Have I told you lately how much I love your blog? Well I do. I think I will add you to my Valentine List too! Ha Ha! I love looking at everyone’s garden and I learn so much too! Well, here is what’s up in my garden this morning! Can’t wait to see how your sticks hold up and I like the limey green of the Toadflax! See you next week! https://thecadyluckleedy.com/2019/01/05/six-on-saturday-whats-new-with-you-this-year/

P, I’m not understanding the supports. Are they plants or do you grow to cut as supports like bamboo.

When I first read your post this morning about the Greenhouse, I’ve been wandering around my plot all day wondering where I could squeeze in a greenhouse to grow tomatoes and salad in the winter… Hey, I might even try my hand at germinating seeds.

It does look like a UFO all lit up. Marvellous what you can do now to trick nature. It will be interesting to see what results you get with the LED grow lights.

The supports are just big twigs cut off the top of trees by a local bloke. Stick one end in the ground, bend over, repeat 5 or 6 times around the clump. They all tangle together providing a mesh for the plant to grow through. In theory.

Would you just use your UFO for seeds or would it help cuttings too? Maybe a daft question since I know you use the Hydropod for those. Anyway, Happy New Year, #1 son-in-law to you and yours.
PS. Should I save any catalogues for your shed wallpaper, or do you think you will find enough over the next few days/weeks/months until I see you next?
Here are my Six-on-Saturday for this week.https://grannysgarden229242407.wordpress.com/2019/01/05/six-on-saturday

Happy New Year! Thank you for introducing me to Salome – she is on my ‘must-buy’ list. I have little fairy lights draped around my container plants on the patio, also on a timer, they make the patio look so pretty.

Hmmm! Do you have a new obsession to add to propagating everything within arm’s reach? Trying to persuade the growing offspring not to go out clubbing by creating something at home? From a young plant, you should expect your Trachelospermum to be about 2 metres wide and within a couple of years. If they like their place, they grow strongly and fast!

Apologies for extreme brevity of my previous comment I’m just learning this whole blogging thing. I meant to say hello and happy new year to the Propagator and fellow gardeners. I have admired your blog from afar. I love your enthusiasm and passion for propagating. Thank you for hosting any long may it continue.http://2blackhenshome.wordpress.com” rel=”nofollow”>http://2blackhenshome.wordpress.com

Happy New Year to you and all fellow sixers. Wow. That is some LED action – I wonder if the China mission to the moon can see it!! Any reports of pink UFOs will be easily explained. Very interested to see effect on seedlings. I WILL sow my sweet peas next week! Here’s my link https://wp.me/p97pee-kx

Love to see new Geranium growth. Like alien spawn from your alien greenhouse. I wonder what the neighbours think of the purple glow… Sunshine on and off this week here, along with snow on and off, rain on and off… Happy New Year!

Happy new year fella, love the lights! They look amazing! You are right it is like a space ship landing, used to love sowing the onions at this time of the year, something so nice about growing them totally from seed, much fun
Have fun with the pea sticks, they look much nicer than the metal one
Anyway here my little offerings

Happy New Year to you, Prop. Looks like a new version of the Tardis in your back yard! I do like your Trachelospermum which looks very healthy. I have several growing in an effort to hide the metal fences here, but they’re languishing…too much heat.
Here are my six: http://janesmudgeegarden.com/troopers-1st-january-2019/

I’m going to be interested to hear how your grow light works, especially on early seedlings. Will it keep cuttings from going dormant or break dormancy with long days or are you just using it for higher light levels? I must start sowing seeds, I think, maybe. Here’s my six: https://wp.me/p6bCCa-1Kp

Still grey down here in the far west. I think I last saw the sun a week last Thursday! Still as long as the rain holds off I am happy, my garden is wet enough to last the rest of the year I think! Plus the conservatory is still soaking in water 😦

I’ve used a few grow lights inside on my houseplants to get them through the winter. My cuttings nearby seem to thriving from it too. Good luck with yours. Between heated bench and lights should do well.

Happy New Year! Sorry to have missed a few SOSes due to Christmas mayhem but it’s nice to be back, although I am feeling rather sloth like in the garden at the moment and in life in general. Hope your Trachylospermum does well for you. We had three in our old garden but they were rather slow growing. Sounds like a lovely combination with Claire Austin rose. Loving your LED lights. Here’s my six:https://carrotsandcalendula.co.uk/2019/01/05/__trashed/

https://tonytomeo.com/2019/01/05/six-on-saturday-cabin-fever/
These are my six. Even though my #6 is not horticulturally oriented, it is not as weird as your #3. That is just plain spooky. I think I would rather waste a slight bit of energy on more of a white light than impose that on the neighbors; although, I am none too keen on some of my neighbors.

Hi there!
Happy New Year to you! I have actually managed a post this week; sorry for the MIA so much going on here.
Those lights are awesome!! I wonder if your seedlings will like them! We got some that you fit behind the TV and change colour -bonkers -. Great fun though.
I will admit to you that I’m getting ‘slightly’ obsessed by composting over the Xmas break and I entirely blame you! I have been layering and even went and got some horse manure-I will have to update in a future SoS post! I have linked your hot composting post to my compost post which I’ve updated -hope you don’t mind.
Anyway, here is my post. It’s very cold here in Wiltshire with lots of frost but at least it’s Saturday so I’m in the garden later taking off the pond net and have a general sweep of all the left over leaves -to put in my compost! Have a great day whatever you are up to.https://oldhouseintheshires.com/2019/01/05/the-old-house-garden-plans-in-2019-six-on-saturday/

The Propagator

I’ve been raising plants from seed for a good few years with some reasonable results. I’ve also dabbled a bit with cuttings with very patchy results. I became a little obsessed with the topic of propagation in 2016 and resolved to improve my success rate and to share what I discovered.
This blog is my assorted ramblings, progress, disasters, setbacks, results and some tips along the way. The focus was initially propagation, which still features heavily but has expanded to cover the veg plot and the general state of the garden. The blog is mostly for my benefit, to keep track of what I've done, and hopefully is also of some interest to other planty obsessives. I post fairly frequently so click below to follow or sign up to receive updates by email. Comments welcome, I will respond to all.